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District 2 Cobb commissioner Bob Ott has announced he’s holding his next town hall meeting at the East Cobb Library.
The meeting takes place on Thursday, Aug. 17, starting at 7 p.m. in the community room of the library, located in the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center, 4880 Lower Roswell Road.
Ott briefs citizens on happenings in county government, and fields questions from the audience.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted late Tuesday evening to keep the 2017 county government millage rate the same as 2016, instead of raising it, as Chairman Mike Boyce had proposed.
By a 3-2 vote, the commission approved a substitute motion by East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott to keep the overall millage rate at 9.85 mills, instead of going up to 9.98 mills.
East Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell and Bob Weatherford voted for Ott’s motion. Boyce and commissioner Lisa Cupid of South Cobb were opposed.
Boyce had wanted a 0.13 mills increase to pay for the fulfillment of the $40 million parks bond referendum approved by Cobb voters in 2008.
Ott’s proposal included diverting budgeted economic development contingency funding the next two years to make up for the difference.
He has been adamantly against a tax increase, and Birrell objected to a hike for several reasons, including the impact on senior citizens.
Boyce, an East Cobb resident in his first year as chairman, and Cupid said the reduction amounts to “kicking the can down the road” for next year’s budget and in the county’s ability to provide a rising level of services he said Cobb citizens have come to expect.
As the Cobb Board of Commissioners is set to vote tonight on the 2017 millage rate that includes a proposed 0.13 mills increase, the Cobb Parks Coalition is urging its supporters to wear green in support of full funding of a $40 million parks bond issue approved by voters in 2008.
However, the organization said the increase, proposed by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce to complete that obligation—and one of his campaign promises—isn’t necessary (previous East Cobb News coverage of Boyce’s town hall meeting in East Cobb last week is here).
In a message sent out late Monday, the coalition said that:
Using $40 million Park Bond 2008 as an excuse for a millage rate increase at the upcoming July 25 Board of Commissioner millage rate meeting misrepresents the facts, and fails to acknowledge that for the past 8+ years the county has delayed, denied and then actually diverted the exact millage rate for Park Bond 2008 into the Braves Stadium Bond.
Cobb commissioners voted to fund $27.5 million of the 2008 park bond last April, and Boyce proposed the millage increase as a means of getting to that $40 million.
On a post on the coalition website from late last week, the group asserted the following:
However, Park Bond 2008 can be fully funded without any increase in taxes for property owners if the county will simply honor the voter referendum with the existing millage available, or if the Board restores the exact millage for the Park Bond shifted into the Braves Stadium Bond this year. Cobb Citizens continue to email and ask that the entire $40 million referendum be funded, and it’s clear this has always been possible without raising taxes.Â
For the past 8 years the county has delayed, denied and then actually diverted the exact millage funds intended to fulfill the 2008 Park Bond voter referendum into the Braves Stadium Bond. There may be challenges in the county budget; however, to point to Park Bond 2008 as the root cause of a millage increase in 2017 is misleading and doesn’t make any sense given the millage rate history.
More here; the final public hearing on the millage rate takes place during tonight’s commission meeting that starts at 7 p.m. The commissioners meet in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb BOC building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
If you can’t attend, the meeting will be shown live on the CobbTVÂ local government access channel (Channel 23 if you’re a Comcast cable customer); it will also be live-streamed on the county website.
East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell have expressed opposition to raising the millage rate.
The Cobb Parks Coalition is having its next meeting in East Cobb, at Harry’s Whole Foods on Powers Ferry Road, a week from today, Aug. 1.
Since late April, the Cobb Department of Transportation has been holding public meetings and conducting surveys to gain citizen feedback on the county’s first-ever master plan for greenways and trails.
Two such meetings have taken place in East Cobb in the last two weeks, at the East Cobb Library and at Covenant Presbyterian Church, to reveal some of the public comment thus far and show citizens how the plan might be taking shape.
While the plan is a work in progress, the potential map of what may be finalized later this year shows a hodgepodge of trails desperately seeking connections.
“There are little pieces here and there,” said Erin Thoreson of Gresham, Smith and Partners, an Atlanta architectural, engineering and design firm which is consulting with Cobb DOT on the project. “When you look at the map, you see obvious places where connections are needed.”
Cobb County, its six cities and three Community Improvement Districts currently have around 50 miles of multi-use trails and greenways. There are an estimated 150 and more miles of prospective trails that could be linked to existing trails.
In Northeast Cobb, one area that might benefit from more connectedness is the Noonday Creek Trail head on Bells Ferry Road, just north of Piedmont Road/Barrett Parkway. Opened in 2014, the Bells Ferry site has become very popular for bikers, walkers and runners.
Hooking up close to other trails at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield is one of the attractions of the Bells Ferry Trail Head, which is a project of the Town Center CID.
To the north, a possible extension of the Noonday Creek Trail projects a connection to the Cherokee County line with access to Woodstock, but the route would go through neighborhoods that could likely draw some community opposition.
One of the major objectives in designing the master plan, Thoreson said, is to get citizens to think about the practicalities of local travel.
“Think about how people get from one place to another,” she said. “It’s important that [trails] get you to the places where you want to go.”
According to the Cobb Trail Plan interactive map, plenty of new routes in East Cobb—which is not served amply by existing trails—have been suggested by citizens (indicated by the orange broken lines). A major issue, however, is heavy residential development. There’s not much greenspace available, and much of that is going to new housing construction.
Some commenters have suggested trail head access points near Lassiter and Pope high schools for cross country runners, and at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church.
Soon the project staff will be putting together a draft master plan with an open house to be scheduled in the fall, unveiling preliminary ideas that include citizens’s suggestions.
They can continue to offer comments on the project’s interactive map, or leave messages at info@CobbTrailPlan.com or by calling 770-754-0755.
Citizens also can offer their thoughts by filling out an online survey.
The last full week of summer vacation will be a busy one for East Cobb students and their parents, beyond shopping for clothes and supplies and getting oriented with the academic year ahead.
A few highlights from this week’s East Cobb Events Calendar:
There’s so much more on our Events Calendar to check out, and if you have an item to share, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
Have a great week, and stay in touch!
Before any of the estimated 200 people could take their seats at the East Cobb Senior Center Wednesday for a town hall meeting devoted to a proposed property tax millage rate increase, they were handed a poster and an information sheet in strident opposition to what they were about to hear.
East Cobb realtors were giving out pink signs saying “No New Tax,” followed by a flyer from the Georgia Taxpayers United organization, urging homeowners sign a petition demanding Cobb commissioners “cut wasteful spending and lower taxes” when the 2017 millage rate is set next week.
Inside an overcrowded meeting room, commission chairman Mike Boyce was expecting residents to deliver some heat about his proposed millage hike of 0.13 mills to fully fund the remaining $13 million of a $40 million parks referendum approved by Cobb voters in 2008.
He got plenty of heat and pointed questions about the budget, county government spending, millage rates, the Atlanta Braves stadium deal with Cobb and more. Yet Boyce stood firm on his pledge to raise the millage rate—as he kept repeating, for the parks bond only—and wasn’t afraid to tangle with citizens in a feisty, and at times testy, meeting.
“I’m not going back on my word,” Boyce said, reminding those in attendance he made a campaign promise last year to fully fund the 2008 parks bond, which was never issued due to the recession. It wasn’t the central plank in his upset victory over then-chairman Tim Lee—how the Braves deal was handled was—but the parks funding its what’s gotten Boyce into some hot water seven months after taking office.
“It you’re asking me to change that position, I’m not going to.”
At their monthly zoning hearing Tuesday morning, the Cobb Board of Commissioners voted to approve Lidl Grocery’s request to continue its rezoning application to redevelop the Park 12 Theatre site (previous ECN post here).
The case will be placed on the August zoning calendar. Another major East Cobb application, filed by SSP Blue Ridge, LLC, for a mixed-used development at Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads, has been continued to September by the Cobb zoning staff.
The Blue Ridge proposal is for a 21-acre retail, residential and commercial center stretching from the current location of Brumby Elementary School to the northwest intersection of Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill.
The anchor of the proposed development would a be Kroger Marketplace, replacing the current Kroger store on Powers Ferry at the southwest intersection of Delk Road.
We’ll update this post later with more East Cobb cases from today’s zoning meeting.
It’s not quite back to school—though it is hard to believe that’s exactly two weeks from today, on July 31—and the four branches of the Cobb County Public Library System in East Cobb have plenty of activities scheduled for the next two weeks.
We’ve included a good sampling of them in our East Cobb Events Calendar, and there are plenty more to peruse on the library system website. In addition to regular storytimes, this week’s events include a picnic at the Mountain View Regional branch, monthly adult book discussion groups at East Marietta and East Cobb, the monthly Gritters STEAM team event and so much more!
On Saturday, the East Cobb branch will feature a presentation on how to grow your own mushroom garden, with some expert advice from the Mushroom Club of Georgia.
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce is taking some heat for proposing a tax millage increase, and on Wednesday he is holding a town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center to solicit more input.
The Cobb school board is holding a final public hearing Thursday before voting on setting its tax millage rate for 2017.
The East Cobb Business Association and Northeast Cobb Business Association are holding their monthly luncheons on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. On Wednesday, the Ashley Homestore on Roswell Road is holding a Red Cross blood drive, and the East Cobb Lions Club will be offering free vision screenings.
If you missed last week’s public input meeting on the Cobb Greenways and Trails Master Plan at East Cobb Library, there will be another meeting Tuesday from 5-6:30 at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Canton Road and Piedmont Road.
Another end-of-summer event for kids takes place Thursday at Terrell Mill Park. The Fairy House Workshop, presented by the Cobb Water System’s Watershed Stewardship Program, includes story-reading before kids ages 3-13 create their own fairy houses.
The Marietta Campmeeting continues every day this week through Saturday, with services at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. and an ice cream social after Tuesday’s evening service, starting at 9:30 p.m. The final service takes place at 11 a.m. Sunday.
We’ll come back later this week with a preview of weekend events in East Cobb, including live entertainment and other community activities.
Please feel free to send your items—including photos, flyers, maps and PDFs if you wish—to: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and we’ll post them promptly.
Have a great week, and please stay in touch!
Two important road items of interest to East Cobb motorists got the green light Tuesday from the Cobb Board of Commissioners, one immediate and that’s long-term.
The first concerns the repaving along Lower Roswell Road following the completion of the East Cobb Pipeline Project.
The commission approved a change order request to expand an existing repaving project to include the 2.08-mile stretch from Old Canton Road to Indian Hills Parkway, and it won’t cost taxpayers any additional funding.
Instead, the estimated cost of $593,095 will come out of already-approved money (via the 2016 SPLOST) as part of the Cobb DOT’s contract with Baldwin Paving Co., which has been repaving 25-30 roads around the county.
The money is available due to underruns in the overall Baldwin contract, according to Cobb DOT.
“The road when it’s finished will be a great improvement,” East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott said before the 5-0 vote.
In another 5-0 vote, the commission approved an engineering design contract with Gresham Smith and Partners for $483,359 for replacement of the Willeo Road bridge over Willeo Creek. It’s a joint project with the City of Roswell, with each jurisdiction kicking in around $213,900 each. Roswell is spending an additional $55,474 for design work for a multi-use trail boardwalk that will connect to the new bridge.
Multi-use trails along Lower Roswell also reach the Cobb side of the bridge and continue westbound, close to Johnson Ferry Road, where bicycle and pedestrian trails are proposed as part of the Johnson Ferry Urban Design Plan approved in 2011.
UPDATED 9:33 a.m. Tuesday: This item has been taken off the agenda. Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said at the start of today’s meeting that the applicant’s attorney has had a death in the family and is unable to attend. Boyce did not indicate when the matter will be placed back on the agenda.
The owners of a proposed new smokehouse and brewery in East Cobb will have their pouring license application heard Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the 2nd floor meeting room at the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
Loyal Q and Brew, which is slated to open at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center (next to the Sellars Goodyear store and across from Ted’s Montana Grill), needs a distance waiver from the commission since its location is 440 feet from the the East Cobb Library and 170 feet from nearby residences.
Those distances fall within the range of a county ordinance requiring waivers for alcoholic serving licenses.
The Cobb License Review Board voted 4-0 without community opposition on June 22 to recommend approval of the waiver. In addition to Ted’s, seven other restaurants and the Parkaire Kroger also sell beer and wine, as well as The Wine Shop, a full-service liquor retailer in the same shopping center.
The co-owner of Loyal Q is Susie Addo, formerly part of the Taco Mac partnership. According to the application, Loyal Q would prepare smoked meat products on the premises and serve craft beer, wine and liquor.
The restaurant would employ around 40 people and would be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The application also states the establishment estimates that 70 percent of its revenue will come from food sales, and 30 percent from alcohol sales.
Here’s a link to Tuesday’s full meeting agenda, which includes a public hearing for the 2017 Cobb millage rate.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Board of Education this week are holding required public hearings as they prepare to set their 2017 millage rates.
The commissioners will hold hearings tonight at 6:30, and at 9 a.m. on Tuesday and at 7 p.m. on July 25, the date they’re slated to vote on the millage rate. Those hearings will be in the board’s 2nd floor meeting room at the Cobb BOC Building, 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.
The school board is holding hearings Tuesday at 10 a.m., during its monthly work session, and again at 6 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District main office, 514 Glover St. in Marietta. 
The school board will have final hearings on July 20 at 1:30 p.m. and at 7 p.m., when it’s scheduled to vote on its 2017 millage rate.
State law mandates the hearings if local property tax digests rise and millage rates aren’t rolled back, prompting a tax increase (here’s a year-by-year chart of Cobb tax digest totals dating back to 2012, when the county began rebounding from the recession. Here’s the BOE’s millage rate notice and 5-year history of its property tax levy).
Elsewhere in this week’s East Cobb Events Calendar, there’s a new women’s business networking group meeting Thursday at Red Sky Tapas Bar that pledges a “no compete” atmosphere. Friday marks the 180th renewal of the Marietta Campmeeting, with an opening picnic and service scheduled from 6-9 p.m. The venerable tradition continues through July 23, and if you haven’t been, or even if you’re not religious, it’s a tremendous experience. I covered this years ago during my newspaper days, and I highly recommend it.
On Sunday’s Bradley’s Bar & Grill on Lower Roswell Road is holding a summer fest and car show from 3-7 p.m., and if you want your car to take part, you have until Wednesday to register. It’s all for a very good cause.
We’re just getting our engines revved up here at East Cobb News and want to make our calendar listings are simply the best in the community. Please feel free to send your items—including photos, flyers and PDFs if you wish—to editor/publisher Wendy Parker at: eastcobbnewsnow@gmail.com.
Have a great week, and please stay in touch!
